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Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Teaching Reading

I am currently in the process of completing a PhD in
English/literacy education from the University of Maryland, College Park.This being my background has caused me to
have an intense passion for developing strong readers.I am pretty “old school” when it comes to
this and my views on literacy education come from time I spent with a lady by
the name of Sylvia Brown.It was a very
long time ago and I was just out of college.You may not have heard of her, but she has a company called Simply
Phonics.She travels the country
teaching educators that the best way to develop strong readers is to simply
teach phonics.That being said, I do not
push sight reading. It is necessary, but I do not make it the emphasis.Of course it may take a little longer for you
to see the fruit, but if a child has a strong grasp of phonics, they will be
able to attack most words…no matter how long the word is!I have seen it happen with my current
class.Most are in early readers, but I
often will present them with a longer word or more challenging literature.At first they will frown up and feel
insecure, but I just simply say, “You know each letter in that word.Sound it out.Use what you’ve learned.”And
before long they are working on it and figure it out!I love the look of pride on their faces when
they do it!

There are two main ways that I teach sight words.One way is by using the word wall.As we are reading our books throughout the
day, if we see a word that fits the phonics rules but still is difficult for
the kids to remember, I will place it on the word wall.The second way is I have created The Word
Jail!All throughout the day, when
students and I find words in our everyday reading that do not fit any rule,
then we write it on index cards and throw it in a crate.About two times a day, I pull the cards out
of the crate and we read them off.Then
I have the kids tell me why it is a “criminal word” (criminal words are words
that break the phonics rules).

In the months to come, I will share more ways that I teach
reading, but hopefully this gives you a nice snap shot…